Free convection from a window glazing with a venetian blind: Numerical model development

The present numerical study examines the influence of horizontal louvres (V enetian blinds) on the convective heat transfer from a vertical isothermal surface. A steady, laminar, two dimensional, conjugate conduction/convectio n solution to this problem has been obtained using the finite element metho d. Detailed comparisons are made with temperature field and local Nusselt n umber data obtained using a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. Also, numerically predicted stream function contours are compared to streamlines obtained fro m flow visualization experiments. All results are obtained for Pr = 0.7, as the intended application of this study is for air. Results show that as th e blind tip-to-plate spacing decreases, the difference between numerical so lutions and experimental results increase. This suggests that radiation hea t transfer may be a significant factor at smaller blind spacings.